Camber vs Rocker vs Triple Base Technology

Snowboard profiles: A brief history and why 3BT is the best on the market.

A Brief History Of Snowboard Profiles

When Sherman Poppen nailed his daughter’s skis together to create the first modern snowboard (aka the ‘Snurfer’) back in 1965, the base was totally flat with just an upturned nose.

This simple snowboard profile remained the standard until the advent of camber. A cambered snowboard is pre-bent so that – when you look at it from the side – the middle of the board sits above the ground. The edge curves down on either side like a shallow rainbow before touching the snow and rising steeply at the tips.

The advantage of camber is threefold:

Men's snowboard in grey and orange. Goliath+ 2025 | Bataleon Snowboards™ 2025.

Pop

A cambered snowboard acts like a pre-coiled spring, so you can pop bigger ollies and launch spins off jumps.

Men's snowboard in multicolor. Cruiser 2025 | Bataleon Snowboards™ 2025.

Turning

A cambered snowboard improves turning performance since it increases edge hold and enables you to snap out of carves.

Quality women snowboard in grey and purple. Push Up 2025 | Bataleon Snowboards™ 2025.

Speed

A cambered snowboard is more stable at high speeds.

The main drawback of traditional camber snowboards is that it can be easy to catch an edge, especially for beginners, because it encourages the widest part of the board (the ‘contact points’) to touch the snow. A second issue is that this downward curve between your front foot and the nose is optimised for hardpack rather than floating in powder. 

Nonetheless, camber snowboards provide a hands-down more lively ride than a simple flat base, so it became the standard snowboard profile for many years.

Rocker snowboards - A design dead end

You’ve probably heard of rocker (aka reverse camber) snowboards, and even rocker-camber or flat-to-rocker hybrids. This whole trend exploded about a decade ago, but it’s not actually a new idea. For instance, Tom Sims advertised rockered boards back in the 80s – taking his inspiration from surfboards. 

A pure rockered snowboard is the opposite of classic camber: the middle of the board sits on the snow, and the base curves gradually up towards the nose and tail. If you placed a rockered snowboard on a hard floor and kicked one end, it would spin around easily. This gives you an idea of how boards like this ride – they are LOOSE!

Sure, it’s harder for a beginner to catch their edge on a reverse camber snowboard, but it’s also harder for them to carve properly. On a rocker snowboard you can’t really engage the full edge so your turns feel skiddy, like you’re sliding around on a tray. To be honest, it kinda sucks for anything except powder. I mean, there’s a reason people swapped their rockered boards for cambered ones after the 80s, right? 

A lot of brands have tried to limit this downside with rocker-camber hybrid designs that claim to offer the best of both worlds. They might have camber between the feet and rocker either end; they might have rocker between the feet and camber towards the contact points; or they might just be totally flat, like the good old Snurfer.

All these snowboard profiles might be useful marketing gimmicks, but they are a design compromise that cannot offer the same pure performance as traditional camber. 

The problem is that they are thinking in two dimensions.

The next dimenson - Triple Base Technology (3BT)

Triple Base Technology (3BT) was the brainchild of a Norwegian biophsysicist named Jorgen Karlson. He was fascinated by the way boards naturally flexed and changed shape when in motion. His thinking led him to the idea of altering the profile of a snowboard not just from the nose to the tail, but from one edge to the other. In short: 3D shaping. 

He took his concept to various snowboard companies who weren’t interested, so he teamed up with a few people who shared his enthusiasm and, in 2003, Bataleon was born.

To understand Triple Base Technology, you need to look at a Bataleon snowboard in a cross section. A flat strip in the centre of the base is combined with uplifted sides, which get more pronounced towards the widest points at the nose and tail. In these areas there are essentially three bases at work, hence the name Triple Base.

When you jam your board into a powder bank, drive it through a transition or just crank out a turn, it’s always going to want to adapt its shape to the terrain. 3BT embraces this phenomenon, optimising a snowboard to the forces at work. Just as the curved hull of a boat ploughs through the waves, or the wings of a plane are designed to slice through the air, Triple Base Technology moves through its chosen environment with maximum efficiency. 

Crucially, 3BT finally solves the puzzle of how to improve camber. All our snowboards feature positive camber from tip to tail, meaning they enjoy all the natural pop and lively carving performance of a traditional board, but thanks to the uplifted sections there are several extra benefits:

Advantages

  • Stomp Bataleon Snowboard

    Stomp More

    3BT™ is like a get-out-of-jail-free card for landing sketchy jumps.

  • 3BT Snowboard Smooth Ride

    Smooth Turns

    3BT™ enables ultra-fast turn initiation, effortless edge transitions, and the smoothest turns imaginable.

  • 3BT freaky float Bataleon snowboard

    Freaky Float

    The 3BT™ hull-like shape generates increased uplift, providing unparalleled float on snow.

  • Icon of happy face Bataleon Snowboard

    Enjoy More

    A forgiving shape with enhanced performance that reduces edge-catch, boosts confidence, and accelerates progression at any level.

Unlike rocker or hybrid camber profiles, Triple Base Technology actually works. And over two decades, we’ve carefully refined it to develop five variations, depending on your preferred riding style: Jib, Twin, Freestyle, Freeride and Pow. You can read all about these different 3BT flavors here.

Shapes

  • Shape nose low disaster snowboard

    Jib

  • Shape nose Evil Twin Snowboard

    Twin Freestyle

  • Shape nose High Thunderstorm Snowboard

    Freeride

  • Pow

In the last couple of years, we’ve also added SideKick to the recipe in most of our snowboards, including the best-selling FunKink and Whatever. SideKick dramatically increases the uplift at the widest points of the nose and tail. This makes turn initiation even smoother, increases float in powder and handling of the board in rough terrain. It has to be ridden to be believed!

  • Triple Technology Bataleon Snowboard

3BT camber profile variations

Depending on the model, Bataleon snowboards also blend 3BT with either of the following traditional camber profiles to further fine-tune the performance:

  • Camber Snowboard profile

    Medium

    Higher camber makes for more dynamic boards that can be ridden more aggressively.

    e.g. Goliath, Whatever

  • Finder Camber snowboard profile low

    Low

    Lower camber boards are smoother at low speed and in powder.

    e.g. Surfer, Disaster

Conclusion: Camber vs Flat vs Rocker Snowboards – Which is best?

The profile of a snowboard can have a big effect on its performance. Positive camber snowboards have been the industry standard for decades because they offer increased pop and better carving performance (for more explanation, see our article on Understanding Snowboard Flex.

Reverse camber (rocker) and hybrid snowboard profiles were marketed more recently in an attempt to overcome the downsides of camber, in particular the tendency to catch an edge and the difficulty of keeping the nose afloat in deep snow. Unfortunately, each of these alternative profiles has drawbacks of its own. 

Triple Base Technology (3BT) is a genuine game changer. By tackling the concept of profile in three dimensions, it is able to combine specific amounts of tip-to-tail positive camber with raised contact points and achieve the best of both worlds, as well as a ton of other advantages. So to answer the question, classic camber is the best – but it’s way more fun to ride with 3BT!

Frequently asked questions about Camber vs. Rocker vs. Triple Base Technology comparisons

FAQ

Which type of Triple Base will suit my riding style best?

Bataleon believes that different types of snowboarding benefit from different 3BT configurations. Our "Freeride-focused" 3BT has a narrower center-point, giving you a quicker and smoother edge-to-edge transition for fast paced riding around the resort, while the wider “Jib-” or “Freestyle-focused” 3BT gives you more stability when approaching a feature in the park, like a rail or box.

Is Triple Base only good for beginners?

The benefits of Triple Base Technology are positive for riders of all abilities. Beginners benefit, as 3BT provides a “catch-free” experience for new riders that helps boost confidence and progression – but benefits like quicker turn initiation and enhanced float in powder benefit more skilled snowboarders.

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